The Trials of the Heart Are Hardest To Bear!                            The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chapter 14 -“Of all the trials that exist, the hardest to bear are those which affect the heart.”                                         ************************   It seems we ourselves can withstand hunger, thirst, and even physical pain more readily then we can withstand the deep wounds which can be inflicted upon our sensitive hearts from those we love deeply… when we feel helpless in the various situations of material life, such as: being subject to ungrateful children or ungrateful parents; suffering abandonment; loving someone who now says they no longer love you; suffering abuse of any type from relatives and friends; spouses and lovers who have strayed and betrayed those whom they had pledged their sincerest love to; our children (our love of loves) involved with drugs, addiction, or worse, and we have been unable to help them change their self-destructive ways; to see those whom we love suffering with pain and disease of which we cannot alleviate; watching a loved one die slowly, a little each day, with a terminal illness; or, suffering the loss of the presence of a dear loved one who has left this material world before us and we feel we cannot go on in this life without them.   During all of these heartaches it seems we are in such a constant emotional turmoil and under unbearable emotional pain. We may feel anger, sadness, agony, depression, anxiety, and despair. Our stomach feels like it is tied up in knots and we can’t sleep or eat. Our endless tears can’t stop the tremendous hurt we feel inside or the breaking of our hearts.     But, if one truly believes in what Spiritism teaches, we know that the just causes of such suffering serve as either expiation, as reparation, and/or as a mission, and as purification for our souls. We know full well, we ourselves have chosen the trials we would undergo in this particular existence. We accepted this life and the trials and tribulations that came with it! And we are not alone, for all suffer upon this earth!   So many people are curious to know who they were and what they did in their past lives, but if they knew, they would cry out in embarrassment, sorrow, and guilt, for it is the repercussions of those deeds in that dark past which has precipitated most of the pain they are now feeling in the present.   But, what can we do to ease some of the heartache one feels during theses types of trials? How can we tolerate such misery? What can be done to make them easier to endure? How can we face each day with such seemingly overwhelming anguish?   We need to firmly acknowledge to ourselves that what we are going through, and/or what our loved one is going through or just went through, is indeed truly just and that we have actually chosen our particular lot in life, and that it serves a sacred purpose which is for the progress of our soul. We must forgive any wrong done to us. We must be as strong as we can, to do whatever is in our power to help those around us, as best as we can, and if we cannot change them or help them, we must have strong faith and leave them in God’s Most Capable Hands because nothing happens without the Will of the Supreme Creator. We can also sustain ourselves with fervent and sincere prayer to our guardian spirit guides, and the Almighty, for our prayers bring upon us from Above the spiritual fluids that act as a beneficial balm providing a certain inner calmness to our troubled soul and can help sustain us in our time of need and crisis, keeping us from desperation.   You are never alone…there are those in the spirit world, the truest of friends and relatives from past lives, who love you with the truest of fraternal love, who are empathetic to your situations, who cry when you cry, and suffer when you do. Your superior spirit guides feel sympathetic (for they have also suffered in reaching their current level of morality). They provide you with their spiritual fluids to help ease your heartfelt pain and also provide their good inspirations (if you listen closely to your inner voice or intuition). Nevertheless, they know that all your sufferings are of short duration in this one lifetime compared to the vast horizon before you as an eternal soul. They know if you succeed in sustaining yourself during even your darkest hour, so much the better for your spirit, for you will enter the spirit world at the time of your return, much more purified and morally advanced, than when you first entered this earthly plane in this, your latest incarnation.  Since God is All Love and Supremely Just, all spirits are created with equal potential, yet each with their own freewill will take different paths in their spiritual journey, but the Law of Progress provides that all will reach the same goal of total purification, sooner or later, each dependent on their own efforts and merits. Spirit Communication received by Yvonne Limoges